There are a wide variety of associated devices that can be connected to a gaming machine such as a slot machine or video poker machine. Some examples of these devices are lights, ticket printers, card readers, speakers, bill validators, coin acceptors, display panels, key pads, and button pads. Many of these devices are built into the gaming machine. A number of devices may be grouped together in a separate box, called a top box, that is placed on top of the gaming machine.
The features of any device are usually controlled by a “master gaming controller” within the gaming machine. For example, during a game, the master gaming controller might instruct lights to go on and off in various patterns, instruct a printer to print a ticket or send information to be displayed on a display screen. For the master gaming controller to perform these operations, connections from the device are wired directly into some type of electronic board (e.g., a “back plane”) containing the master gaming controller.
To operate a device, the master gaming controller requires parameters, operation features and configuration information specific to each peripheral device. This information is incorporated into software and stored in some type of memory device on the master gaming controller. This device specific software operates the features of the device during a game. As an example, to operate a set of lights, the software for the master gaming controller would require information such as the number and types of lights, features of the lights, signals that correspond to each feature, and the response time of the lights.
One disadvantage of the current operation method for devices controlled by a master gaming controller is that each time a device is replaced, the gaming machine must be shutdown. Then, the wires from the device are disconnected from the master gaming controller and the master gaming controller is rewired for the new device. A device might be replaced to change the game features or to repair a malfunction within the device. Similarly, if the circuit board containing the master gaming controller or the master gaming controller itself needs repair, then the wiring from the all the devices connected to the gaming controller must be removed before the gaming controller can be removed. After repair or replacement, the master gaming controller must be rewired to all of the devices. This wiring process is time consuming and can lead to significant down-time for the gaming machine. Further, the person performing the installation requires detailed knowledge of the mechanisms within the gaming machine. Additionally, the high-pin-counts used as interconnects between components in the gaming machine is very cumbersome. The pins are easy to bend and/or may not be connected properly.
Another disadvantage involves the software for the devices. When a new device is installed on a gaming machine, software specific to the device must be installed on the master gaming controller. Again, the gaming machine must be shutdown and the person performing this installation process requires detailed knowledge of the gaming machine and the device.
A further disadvantage is the difficulty to maintain low temperatures on the processor boards. As technology in the gaming industry progresses, the once traditional mechanically-driven reel slot machines have been replaced with electronic counterparts having cathode ray tube (CRT) video displays or the like. These video/electronic gaming advancements enable the operation of more complex gambling games which would not otherwise be possible on mechanical-driven gambling machines. For example, in addition to reel slot machines, it is now common to observe stand alone or multiple platform video electronic games including Keno, Blackjack, Poker, Pai Gow, and all the variations thereof, in even the smallest gaming establishments. These electronic game devices may comprise numerous internal electrical components including, for example, a power supply, a lighted display and a central processing unit (CPU). During extensive use, and due to the fact that these game devices are always “on” even when not in use, many of the internal electrical components thereof require cooling.
Parallel bus architectures play a vital role in current gaming machines. However, parallel busses limit the physical location of peripheral controllers, like the video card, universal serial bus (USB) host controller, Ethernet controller, gaming device controllers, and other similar controllers. The peripheral controllers must be positioned next to the CPU due to electromagnetic interference (EMI) considerations and the complexity to extend a high frequency parallel bus. For this reason, the CPU and peripheral controllers are located on the same processing board. Unfortunately, this tight and close connection between the peripheral controllers may cause many issues and/or inconveniences in gaming machine design. For example, as video technology improves, the video card generates and dissipates a lot of heat at run time. However, the CPU itself also generates a lot of heat. Therefore special heat design considerations must be taken into account to handle the high temperatures. Additionally, since all the peripheral controllers must reside on the same processing board with the CPU, it is difficult to minimize the size of the gaming box. This, in turn, limits the flexibility in mechanical design of an entire gaming machine.
Moreover, the physical connections between the master gaming controller, back plane board, and peripheral devices are complex. Almost all gaming machine peripheral devices are first connected to the back plane. Another connection is then necessary to connect the peripheral devices from the back plane to the master gaming controller since the peripheral controllers reside on the master gaming controller. As briefly discussed above, this results in many wire connections between the master gaming controller and the back plane, thus increasing connection complexity, which causes an increase in cost, reliability, EMI, and other disadvantages.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional gaming machine that is currently cooled using at least one box fan 3. The box fan 3 is located within the gaming machine 2 and strategically placed on or near internal components requiring cooling, depending on space provisions. The box fan 3 distributes air from within the machine onto or around these internal components for convection cooling thereof. Typically, a housing 6 of the gamine machine 2 includes an air intake vent 4 to introduce fresh air to the internal components in the gaming machine. Typically, top boxes and base cabinets of a gaming machine are cooled separately. Therefore, it is common to have intake and exhaust ports for the top box and base cabinet, respectively. The housing 6 further includes an air exhaust vent 5 to exhaust air from the gaming machine. Generally, the air intake vent 4 and air exhaust vent 5 are spaced-apart along the side of the housing to enable air circulation across the internal components. Vent location, however, is often dictated by space limitations.
During operation of the fan 3, the air is drawn into the housing 6 through intake port 4. After flowing past the internal components, the air exits the housing through exhaust port 5. As a consequence of this arrangement, the air driven by the box fan 3 is limited to the air that has circulated through the internal components, both electrical and mechanical, in the gaming machine interior. Correspondingly, the air may be heated by internal components before the air reaches other heat critical components. By way of example, the air may be heated by a monitor or coin hopper closer to the air inlet 4 before the air reaches a CPU proximate to the box fan 3. As some internal components may be more heat sensitive, this pre-heating of cooling air used by the box fan 3 may diminish heat removal for the heat sensitive components.
In addition to the above disadvantages, it is sometimes necessary in gaming machine design to position critical components in isolated or confined locations such as on the main processing board that is enclosed in a gaming box. When these critical components are heat sensitive, this restricted placement may diminish the cooling efficiency of the box fan 3. Thus, dissipating heat to maintain low temperatures on the processing boards is critical to secure the normal functioning of the electronic components, to stabilize their operation, and extend their operational life.